The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone

Jaclyn Moriarty returns with her first middle-grade novel, a buoyantly high-spirited fantasy adventure.

Bronte Mettlestone is ten years old when her parents are killed by pirates.This does not bother her particularly: her parents ran away to have adventures when she was a baby. She has been raised by her Aunt Isabelle, with assistance from the Butler, and has spent a pleasant childhood of afternoon teas and riding lessons. Now, however, her parents have left detailed instructions for Bronte in their will. (Instructions that, annoyingly, have been reinforced with faery cross-stitch, which means that if she doesn't complete them, terrible things could happen!) She travels the kingdoms, perfectly alone, delivering gifts to ten other aunts: a farmer aunt who owns an orange orchard, a veterinarian aunt who specializes in dragon care, a pair of aunts who captain a cruise ship, and a former rock star aunt who is now the reigning monarch of a small kingdom.But as she travels from aunt to aunt, Bronte suspects there might be more to this journey than the simple delivery of treasure.

Jaclyn Moriarty grew up in Sydney, Australia, with four sisters (including author Liane Moriarty), one brother, two dogs, and twelve chickens. She studied law at the University of Sydney, Yale, and Cambridge, and worked as an entertainment lawyer before she wrote the Ashbury High novels, including The Year of Secret Assignments, The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie, and The Ghosts of Ashbury High. She still lives in Sydney, with her little boy, Charlie.